CHARLES DICKENS DOMBEY AND SON CHAPTER I Dombey and ...

and his desire to get rid of Mr. Toots, the Captain was in such a scared and
strange condition, indeed, that if he had been in conversation with a ghost,
he could hardly have evinced greater discomposure.
'But I was going to say, Captain Gills,' said Mr. Toots. 'Happening to be
this way early this morning--to tell you the truth, I was coming to
breakfast with you. As to sleep, you know, I never sleep now. I might be a
Watchman, except that I don't get any pay, and he's got nothing on his
mind.'
'Carry on, my lad!' said the Captain, in an admonitory voice.
'Certainly, Captain Gills,' said Mr. Toots. 'Perfectly true!Happening to be
this way early this morning (an hour or so ago), and finding the door
shut--'
'What! were you waiting there, brother?' demanded the Captain.
'Not at all, Captain Gills,' returned Mr. Toots. 'I didn't stop a moment. I
thought you were out. But the person said--by the bye you don't keep a dog,
do you, Captain Gills?'
The Captain shook his head.
'To be sure,' said Mr. Toots, 'that's exactly what I said. I knew you
didn't. There is a dog, Captain Gills, connected with--but excuse me. That's
forbidden ground.'
The Captain stared at Mr. Toots until he seemed to swell to twice his
natural size; and again the perspiration broke out on the Captain's
forehead, when he thought of Diogenes taking it into his head to come down
and make a third in the parlour.
'The person said,' continued Mr. Toots, 'that he had heard a dog barking in
the shop: which I knew couldn't be, and I told him so. But he was as
positive as if he had seen the dog.'